Stagecraft

Abstract: SummaryBetsky asserts that gay men and women have always been at the forefront of architectural innovation - reclaiming abandoned neighborhoods, redefining urban spaces, and creating liberating interiors out of hostile environments. These "queer spaces" reflect the experiences of homosexuals in a straight culture. Often forced to hide their true nature, gay men and women have turned inward, playing with the norms of interior space and creating environments of stagecraft and celebration where they can define themselves without fear. Their experiments point the way to an architecture that can free us all from the imprisoning structures and spaces of the modern city.

Abstract: Making spirits visible has been a part of the theatrical experience since at least the sixteenth century. Instead of illusions, however, ghostly doubles in theatre are materially real and pervasive. In Ghosts, Alice Rayner examines theatre as a memorial practice that is haunted by the presence of loss, looking at how aspects of stagecraft turn familiar elements into something uncanny. Citing examples from the works of Shakespeare, Beckett, and Suzan-Lori Parks as well as the films Vertigo, Gaslight, and The Sixth Sense, she begins by describing time as it is employed by theatre with multiple aspects of presence, duration, and passage. Suggesting that objects connect past to present through the sense of touch, she explores how props are suspended backstage between motion and meaning. Her final chapters consider the curtain as theatre's means for attempting to divide real and imaginary worlds. If ghosts hover where secrets-secrets of the past, secrets from oneself, secrets of life and death-are kept, then, according to Rayner, "theatre is where ghosts best make their appearances and let communities and individuals know that we live amid secrets hiding in plain sight."Alice Rayner is associate professor of drama at Stanford University and author of, most recently, To Act, To Do, To Perform: Drama and the Phenomenology of Action.

Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Spectacular passions: eighteenth-century oratory and the reform of eloquence 2. Bodies on the borders of politeness: 'Orator Henley', Methodist enthusiasm and polite literature 3. Thomas Sheridan: forging the British body 4. The art of acting: mid-century stagecraft and the broadcast of feeling 5. Polite reading: sentimental fiction and the performance of response Epilogue Bibliography Index.

Abstract: Volume 1: Introduction Christopher Bigsby and Don B. Wilmeth Timeline: beginnings to 1870: compiled by Don B. Wilmeth and Jonathan Curley 1. American theatre in context from the beginnings to 1870 Bruce McConachie 2. Structure and management in the American theatre from the beginning to 1870 Douglas McDermott 3. The plays and playwrights: plays and playwrights to 1800 Peter A. Davis Plays and playwrights: 1800-1865 Gary A. Richardson 4. The actors: European actors and the star system in the American theatre 1752-1870 Simon Williams 5. The emergence of the American actor Joseph Roach 6. Scenography, stagecraft and architecture in the American theatre, beginnings to 1870 Mary C. Henderson 7. Paratheatricals and popular stage entertainment Peter G. Buckley. Volume 2: Introduction Christopher Bigsby and Don B. Wilmeth Timeline: 1870-1945: compiled by Don B. Wilmeth and Jonathan Curley 1.The hieroglyphic state: American theatre and society, post Civil War to 1945 Thomas Postlewait 2. A changing theatre: New York and beyond John Frick 3. The plays and playwrights: Civil War to 1896 Tice L. Miller Plays and playwrights: 1896-1915 Ronald Wainscott Plays and playwrights: 1915-1945 Brenda Murphy 4. Theatre groups and their playwrights Mark Fearnow 5. Popular entertainment Brooks McNamara 6. Musical theatre Thomas Riis 7. Actors and acting Daniel J. Watermeier 8. Scenography, stagecraft, and architecture Mary C. Henderson 9. Directors and direction Warren Kliewer. Volume 3: List of illustrations List of contributors Preface Ackowledgements Introduction Christopher Bigsby Timeline: Post-World War II to 1998 compiled by Don B. Wilmeth and Jonathan Curley 1. American theatre in context: 1945-present Arnold Aronson 2. A changing theatre: Broadway to the regions: Broadway Laurence Maslon Off and Off-Off Broadway Mel Gussow Regional/Resident theatre Martha LoMonaco Alternative theatre Marvin Carlson 3. The plays and playwrights: Plays and playwrights: 1945-1970 June Schlueter American drama since 1970 Matthew Roudane 4. Musical theatre since World War II John Degen 5. Directors and directions Samuel L. Leiter 6. Actors and acting Foster Hirsch 7. American theatre design since 1945 Ronn Smith Bibliography Index.